RECEPTION OF SPOKEN ENGLISH. MISHEARINGS IN THE LANGUAGE OF
BUSINESS AND LAW
Horea Ioana - Claudia
University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
[email protected]
Abstract: Spoken English may sometimes cause us to face a peculiar problem in
respect of the reception and the decoding of auditive signals, which might lead to
mishearings. Risen from erroneous perception, from a lack in understanding the
communication and an involuntary mental replacement of a certain element or
structure by a more familiar one, these mistakes are most frequently encountered in
the case of listening to songs, where the melodic line can facilitate the development
of confusion by its somewhat altered intonation, which produces the so called
mondegreens. Still, instances can be met in all domains of verbal communication,
as proven in several examples noticed during classes of English as a foreign
language (EFL) taught to non-philological subjects. Production and perceptions of
language depend on a series of elements that influence the encoding and the
decoding of the message. These filters belong to both psychological and semantic
categories which can either interfere with the accuracy of emission and reception.
Poor understanding of a notion or concept combined with a more familiar relation
with a similarly sounding one will result in unconsciously picking the structure which
is better known. This means ‘hearing’ something else than it had been said,
something closer to the receiver’s preoccupations and baggage of knowledge than
the original structure or word. Some mishearings become particularly relevant as
they concern teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Such are those
encountered during classes of Business English or in English for Law. Though not
very likely to occur too often, given an intuitively felt inaccuracy - as the terms are
known by the users to need to be more specialised -, such examples are still not
ignorable. Thus, we consider they deserve a higher degree of attention, as they
might become quite relevant in the global context of an increasing work force
migration and a spread of multinational companies.
Key words: verbal communication; mondegreens; teaching EFL; mishearings in
ESP classes.
JEL classification: Y80; Z00; K00.
1. Preliminary remarks
Oral communication presents certain peculiarities given the fact that the filters
interposed between the speaker and the hearer are more numerous than in written
English.
1.1. Faulty perception of spoken language
Spoken language can provide grounds for occurrence of faulty reception.
“Mondegreens are a sort of aural malapropism. Instead of saying the wrong word,
you hear the wrong word … Mondegreens are in a sense the opposite of
malapropisms; they result from something being misheard rather than missaid …
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The word mondegreen is generally used for misheard song lyrics, although
technically it can apply to any speech.” (Austin, 2008)
Research into the matter of perception of spoken English sometimes provides
examples of mishearings but does not necessarily name the phenomena as
“mondegreens” and does not discuss or analyse the concept, which would not be
the point anyway. The matter is rather the diagnosis of the misperceptions and the
attempt to better understand the process of misperception in order to be able to preempt it. As demonstrated by Linda Shockey, non-natives are very likely to interpret
and decode the sequence of sounds they hear, in a way more familiar to them: “We
assume that a lack of familiarity with casual speech is a major factor in their lack of
comprehension.” (Shockey, 2003: pp.120-1)
Psychological and environmental factors intermingle in the perception process. This
results in a peculiar distortion of the sounds heard or in a particular construction of
meaning attributed to some uncertain collection of sounds. An inadequate or poor
knowledge and comprehension of the notions heard combined with a personal
propensity or a predisposition to react towards fulfilling various expectations on the
background of a particular cultural and intellectual baggage on part of the receiver
are faced with a sometimes tricky or misleading syntactical structure. This is often
new or unfamiliar and maybe delivered at a high speech rate, with a certain accent
or a sophisticated intonation, or perhaps lacking an appropriate quality not only if the
sound is recorded.
1.2. Definition of the term ‘mondegreen’
So, what is a mondegreen and how did it come into being? “A mondegreen is a word
that is construed as it is actually heard, not as the speaker intends it to be heard ...”
(Safire, 1994) “Although some linguists have called this stumblepunning 'unwitting
paronomasia,' the better word is mondegreen. Coiner is the writer Sylvia Wright, who
noted in a 1954 Harper's article that some children happily sang in church of 'Gladly,
the cross-eyed bear,' when the hymn was 'Gladly the cross I'd bear.' She
remembered the Scottish ballad 'The Bonny Earl of Murray' and how she had recited
it as a child: 'They have slain the Earl Amurray,/And Lady Mondegreen.'” (Safire,
1994) Of course, “It eventually transpired that Lady Mondegreen existed only in the
mind of Sylvia Wright, for the actual lyrics said that they 'slay the Earl of Murray and
laid him on the green'.” (Safire, 1994) “And to this day Lady Mondegreen's name has
been used to describe all mishearings of this type!” (Austin, 2008)
2. The usual mondegreen
Researchers in the field of linguistics have become more and more aware of the
phenomenon and it quickly acquired the status of phonetic process. As William Safire
notices, “In a 1987 essay in Time magazine, Gregory Jaynes found a way of
surviving the stress of New York City: He recalled a pastor's asking him in his youth
to rise and sing Hymn No. 508, 'Lead On, O Kinky Turtle.' Later, he found it had been
intended as 'Lead On, O King Eternal,' but 'in the days since, the phrase lead on, o
kinky turtle has assumed a profound significance in the course of my wanderings. I
use it in a kind of incantatory fashion, muttering 'lead on, o kinky turtle' whenever I
feel shorted, stiffed, put upon by outside forces'.” (Safire, 1994)
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2.1. Famous examples
The most famous mondegreens (Feldman, 2007), given as examples in almost all
contexts where the theme is discussed, seem to be:
 In lyrics:
 "Excuse me while I kiss this guy", instead of "Excuse me while I kiss the
sky" - Jimi Hendrix in Purple Haze,
 "The girl with colitis goes by", misheard for "The girl with kaleidoscope
eyes" - The Beatles in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
 "There's a bathroom on the right", for "There's a bad moon on the rise" Creedence Clearwater’s Bad Moon Rising
 In the medical field: "Varicose veins" heard as "Very close veins"
 In mass-media: "Paper View TV" understood instead of "Pay-per-view TV."
2.2. Common mondegreens
Some other examples of common mondegreens, as remarked by researchers
(Cowan and Rakusan, 1998; Edwards, 1995; Kissell, 2008; Nordquist, 2013) or at
the Center for the Humane Study of Mondegreens (Carroll, 2003: E-12), can be seen
in table 1, a collection showing that researchers into the field particularly relied and
focused on lyrics. This comes only natural as it is in songs that mondegreens are
more often. (see also Austin, 2008) People are used to communicate plainly, to
speak and hear at the normal pace, rate, rhythm, tonality and intonation of the
standard discourse. The peculiar melody or the sometimes forced pace of the lyrics
may trigger a new combination of syllables or a more familiar structure, for instance.
Table 1: Examples of common mondegreens
Mondegreen
Original
“Are you going to starve “Are you going
an old friend?”
Scarborough Fair?”
“Baking carrot biscuits.”
“Taking
care
business.”
to
of
“Bohemian Rap City”
“Born under a bad sign
with a boom boom in your
eyes.”
“Bring me an iron lung.”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Born under a bad sign
with a blue moon in your
eyes.”
“Bring me a higher love.”
“Crimean River.”
“Cry Me a River.”
“Dead ants are my
friends; they’re blowin’ in
the wind.”
“Donuts make my brown
eyes blue.”
“Got a lot of lucky
peanuts.”
“The answer my friend is
blowin’ in the wind.”
“Don’t it make my brown
eyes blue.”
“Got a lot of love
between us.”
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Origin
Scarborough Fair, Simon
and Garfunkel
Takin’ Care Of Business,
Bachman-Turner
Overdrive
Queen
A3, Woke Up This
Morning
Higher
Love,
Steve
Winwood
Cry Me a River, Julie
London
Blowin’ In The Wind, Bob
Dylan
Don’t It Make My Brown
Eyes Blue, Crystal Gale
Let’s Hang On. Frankie
Vallee and the Four
Seasons
Mondegreen
“Hope the city voted for
you.”
“I blow bubbles when you
are not here.”
“I got no towel, I hung it
up again.”
“I never had me a better
time in a textile mill, oh
my,”
“I’ll be your xylophone
waiting for you.”
"I’ll never leave your
pizza burning"
“I’m a pool hall ace.”
Original
“Hopelessly devoted to
you.”
“My world crumbles
when you are not here.”
“I get knocked down, but
I get up again.”
“I never had me a better
time and I guess I never
will”
“I’ll be beside the phone
waiting for you.”
„I’ll never be your beast
of burden"
“My poor heart aches.”
“Just brush my teeth
before you leave me,
baby.”
“Mama don’t take my
clothes ‘n’ throw ‘em
away.”
“Midnight after you’re
wasted.”
"… no ducks or hazards
in the classroom."
“She’s got a chicken to
ride.”
“Sweet dreams are made
of cheese”
"Sleep in heavenly peas."
“Just touch my cheek
before you leave me,
baby.”
“Mama don’t take my
Kodachrome away.”
"The ants are my friends"
"What a nice surprise
when you're out of ice."
"You and me and Leslie."
“Midnight at the oasis.”
"... no dark sarcasm in
the classroom"
“She’s got a ticket to
ride.”
“Sweet dreams are
made of these”
"Sleep
in
heavenly
peace."
"The answer, my friend,
is..."
"What a nice surprise
bring your alibis."
"You
and
me
endlessly..."
"You make the best of
what's still around."
Origin
Hopelessly Devoted
You, Grease
I Try, Macy Gray
to
Tubthumping,
Chumbawumba
Crocodile Rock,
Elton John
Build Me Up Buttercup,
The Foundations
Beast of Burden, The
Rolling Stones
Every Step You Take, The
Police
Angel of the Morning,
Juice Newton
Kodachrome, Paul Simon
Midnight at the Oasis,
Maria Muldaur
Another Brick in the Wall,
Pink Floyd
Ticket to Ride, The
Beatles
Sweet dreams are made
of these, Eurhythmics
Silent Night, Christmas
carol
Blowing in the Wind, Bob
Dylan
Hotel California, Eagles
Groovin', The Rascals
"You make the best
When The World Is
homemade
stew
Running
Down,
The
around."
Police
Source: author’s design on information from references cited in the
paragraph above
3. Mishearings in ESP classes
Next, some similar situations, met as a lecturer at the University of Oradea, teaching
English at the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Law, will be presented. Funny
surprises discovered in papers written on various listening materials, called forth a
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deeper research into the matter and more careful examination of the notes students
took. Further observations and some experiments both in dictation and listening
comprehension revealed the presence – if not really regular, than at least often
enough to be pertinently considered a relevant phenomenon – of mistakenly
perceived phrases.
3.1. “Pearls” in Business English classes
Several examples of such ‘pearls’, as we are accustomed to name the “logiclinguistic confusions”, can be seen in table 2.
Table 2: Selection of mishearings met during Business English classes
Original fragment
Misheard structure
Under these terms, they hived off the And he disturbs the height of the retail
retail operation
operation
Payment’s now past due
Payments go part stewed
Bargaining comprises of all these
Burden income prizes and all fees
Bidding means putting forward a Building is good in form of the
proposal
proposal
Avoid default under the promissory note If all the fault and all the promise are
remote
The bill came to five grands
Then Bill Gates won high rates
Out of pocket expenses were paid back
Out of packages pence for a paid bag
He paid in cash and checked his change He paid in cash on chequed exchange
There is high level maintenance on the This hardly ever meant announcing a
free market
flee market
The bottles were hand wrapped
The bottles were hard trapped
Passengers who booked cabins
Passing chairs to look at this
On board you’ll be entitled to free meals Abroad he’ll be in the title of two-three
mails
They ‘ll have the surcharge refunded
They have this new judgment founded
They retained the distinctive long-necked They retained the instinct of a nonglass
backed class
Source: author’s design on own data
We can note that while some misinterpretations are totally outside the field of
business, rather illogical and quite hilarious, most examples preserve or try to retain
a certain mark of the domain, yet. Still comical, as they attempt to fit in the context
but hardly manage to, we can assume that the minds of the subjects must have
struggled to somehow keep the register, to stay in some way inside the fields of
business.
As English is a language much used in the filed of business, tourism, international
trades, transportation, international affairs, marketing and other domains of
communication – speaking, hearing and understanding – in this ‘lingua franca’ of the
world economy, and, given the fact that mistakes can easily occur with non-natives
- yet not only with non-natives-, this aspect of the process of mishearing might prove
quite relevant.
A business meeting, a presentation, a telephone conversation or a negotiation might
lead to odd results if participants ‘hear’ something different from what was said or
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unintentionally ‘interpret’ the sounds heard, construing a new phrase, like in the old
game of ‘the wireless phone’. Not very common – as the very nature of the specific
terminology used does neither logically nor normally allow even margins, let alone
large ranges, of potential interpretation –, but, nevertheless, possible, such
mishearings demand a certain attention and could benefit from a deeper
investigation.
3.2. Occurrence in classes of English for Law
Fixed expressions and strict terminology of proceedings are very unlikely to create
confusion in the minds of those who have been trained and work in the field of law
since they are familiar with the lexical particularities and the specific notions and
concepts of their profession. All the same, the non native students preparing for the
field of law in a non-English language might have problems with the terminology of
English juridical language which they approach during the university years. They
only deal with it during their first two study years and are not too probable to use it
in an English speaking court environment, for instance. That is because the law
system differs and specialised studies would be required for someone to be allowed
to work in the English law system. Still, some mishearings might appear in their
activity when researching and tackling documentation, when going to conferences
or talking to a non-native English speaker about professional matters.
Some examples of misperceptions of law terminology encountered during classes of
English with law students can be seen in table 3. Unlike with students in economics,
as seen in table 2, we shall note that the register is now in most cases changed to a
standard one. There are now rather scarcely preserved instances of juridical
discourse as this is, indeed, more difficult to construe.
Table 3: Mishearings met during English for Law classes
Original text
Misheard structure
Improper appropriation of funds in In a proper preparation he founds the
one’s keeping
housekeeping
Misdemeanour is not punishable by Mister Minnor is now punishing one of
imprisonment
the prisoner
Plea bargaining is resorted to so as to Plea bargaining is resulted if she asked
speed up trial
to speak of trial
They sent a subpoena to summon the They sent us some peanut and to some
witnesses to court
of the witnesses a card
The libel refers to written defamation
The liable returns a written information
Confess against the promise the Confess that great supporters of
sentence will be lighter
sentence will delight her
The court extended the protection
The court is bent in the profession
Measures that grant suspects the Assures the grand suspects the bona
benefit of due process of law
fide to process the law
The Chancellor of the Exchequer The chance of those that win a cheque
controls the public finances
can close the public finances
Source: author’s design on own data
Even if rarely likely to occur, mistakes in the perception of terminology of law might
have rather unpleasant outcomes. We can imagine, for instance, the consequences
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that can be brought about, in bureaucracy and formalities, by an official document of
the court that is issued containing such mistakes as a misplaced punctuation, a
defective linkage of syllables or even missing words, due to a mishearing and a
wrong transcription of the procedures.
4. Conclusions
A particular failure in perceiving speech, often seen as a funny perception mistake,
mondegreens are mostly encountered when it comes to lyrics as it is in songs and
poems that sounds might be distorted by a certain imposed rhythm. Yet,
misperceived terms may arise in other fields, too. From dry, silly or really dull, to
mildly amusing, odd, or plainly ludicrous, the erroneous hearing of certain words or
phrases may spring from any listener faced with whatever speaker – more or less
experienced, native or not. It is doubtless that all domains of life and activity may
register instances of the aforementioned mishearings, and with learners of English it
comes all just natural.
Having a rather limited occurrence, these special ‘mondegreens’ or mishearings in
professional activities – if these ‘mistakes in hearing’ can be applied as such to the
said domains – are not, in our opinion, of a very extensive occurrence. Thus they
cannot be considered to produce relevant negative effects. Still, the presence of
these sorts of misperceptions noticed during the English classes with nonphilological students, i.e. students not trained philologically, should at least stir
attention and drag awareness to the fact that unintended puns can emerge, or,
rather, be received and interpreted wrongly, even in the most formal fields of human
activity.
References
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Carroll, Jon (2003) “Weapons of mass mondegreens”, San Francisco Chronicle, July
31, E-12.
Cowan, W. and Rakusan, J. (1998) Source Book for Linguistics. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins Publishing Co.
Edwards, Gavin (1995) Introduction to 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy: And Other
Misheard Lyrics’, New York: Fireside.
Feldman, Elliot (2007), “Mondegreens - Commonly Misheard Song Lyrics”,
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